The Volk’s Electric Railway is the World’s oldest operational electric railway built by Magnus Volk and opened in 1883.
The railway runs along the top of the beach for just over a mile from Aquarium Station near the pier to Black Rock Station near the marina. Services cross at Halfway Station and there are additional passing loops between each terminal station and Halfway.
The railway still uses some of the original C19th cars and the return trip takes about 30 minutes.
Magnus Volk was an enthusiastic Victorian inventor. He brought the first telephone system to Brighton and was the first person in the area to install electricity in his house using a Siemens dynamo which he later used to drive his electric railway.
Following the success of this, he was asked to illuminate the gardens of the Royal Pavilion. He installed a hydraulic ball time clock in the Clock Tower that chimed on the hour and an early fire alarm system for Brighton which connected the fire and police stations. He also designed electric cars, including one for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Brighton was developing rapidly as a sea side destination. Magnus Volk spotted an opportunity to develop an electric railway along the sea front and the first short stretch of line between the Aquarium and Chain Pier.
It was an immediate success and the line was soon extended as far as Black Rock. The line was built to 2ft 81/2inch gauge with power supplied by a third rail.
Volk had great plans to extend further east to Rottingdean in 1892. He overcame the problem of getting round the chalk cliffs by building the tracks on the sea bed and running the passenger carriages on stilts (nick named Pioneer or Daddy Long Legs), above the water with power provided by over head cables, with access to the shore by a jetty.
The railway ran for just four years before the council decided to build a beach protection barrier, to prevent coastal erosion. Volk lacked the finances to relocate the tracks into deeper water and this section of the railway closed in 1901.
In 1940, Brighton Corporation took control of the line from the Volk family. It was shut down and temporary defence works were built along the tracks. The terminal stations were demolished and the carriages trapped in the shed by barbed wire.
After the war, the line was rebuilt and reopened with a new station at Black Rock and a redundant tram shelter for the Aquarium Station.
Winter services stopped in 1954.
The Volk's Electric Railway Association (VERA) was formed in 1995 to help Brighton & Hove City Council promote and operate the line.
In the late 1990s, the Black Rock end of the line was shortened to permit a storm water storage scheme to be built in the marina area. The 1948 station was demolished and replaced by a new single platform station, which opened in 1998 and shares a building with a new Southern Water pumping station.
Between 2015-17, Lottery money was used to build a new visitor centre and ticket office at the Aquarium station, a tram shed and depot at Halfway with engineering facilities, and to restore cars 4, 6, and 10.
Website
cont...
The railway runs along the top of the beach for just over a mile from Aquarium Station near the pier to Black Rock Station near the marina. Services cross at Halfway Station and there are additional passing loops between each terminal station and Halfway.
The railway still uses some of the original C19th cars and the return trip takes about 30 minutes.
Magnus Volk was an enthusiastic Victorian inventor. He brought the first telephone system to Brighton and was the first person in the area to install electricity in his house using a Siemens dynamo which he later used to drive his electric railway.
Following the success of this, he was asked to illuminate the gardens of the Royal Pavilion. He installed a hydraulic ball time clock in the Clock Tower that chimed on the hour and an early fire alarm system for Brighton which connected the fire and police stations. He also designed electric cars, including one for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Brighton was developing rapidly as a sea side destination. Magnus Volk spotted an opportunity to develop an electric railway along the sea front and the first short stretch of line between the Aquarium and Chain Pier.
It was an immediate success and the line was soon extended as far as Black Rock. The line was built to 2ft 81/2inch gauge with power supplied by a third rail.
Volk had great plans to extend further east to Rottingdean in 1892. He overcame the problem of getting round the chalk cliffs by building the tracks on the sea bed and running the passenger carriages on stilts (nick named Pioneer or Daddy Long Legs), above the water with power provided by over head cables, with access to the shore by a jetty.
The railway ran for just four years before the council decided to build a beach protection barrier, to prevent coastal erosion. Volk lacked the finances to relocate the tracks into deeper water and this section of the railway closed in 1901.
In 1940, Brighton Corporation took control of the line from the Volk family. It was shut down and temporary defence works were built along the tracks. The terminal stations were demolished and the carriages trapped in the shed by barbed wire.
After the war, the line was rebuilt and reopened with a new station at Black Rock and a redundant tram shelter for the Aquarium Station.
Winter services stopped in 1954.
The Volk's Electric Railway Association (VERA) was formed in 1995 to help Brighton & Hove City Council promote and operate the line.
In the late 1990s, the Black Rock end of the line was shortened to permit a storm water storage scheme to be built in the marina area. The 1948 station was demolished and replaced by a new single platform station, which opened in 1998 and shares a building with a new Southern Water pumping station.
Between 2015-17, Lottery money was used to build a new visitor centre and ticket office at the Aquarium station, a tram shed and depot at Halfway with engineering facilities, and to restore cars 4, 6, and 10.
Website
cont...
